Use the 'bounce' for better fairway wood shots

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach John Jacobs gives his fairway wood keys on how to improve your technique and strike the ball more cleanly

Fairway wood keys video

Try the tips below if you struggle to hit your fairway woods consistently and your long-game ball striking is a weakness in your game.

There is no doubt about it, fairway woods are the toughest clubs in the bag to hit well. I often think players use too little loft in their fairway woods – don’t worry about whether you have a 3- or a 5-wood in the bag; it’s not the number, but the loft that counts.

If you use a high-lofted driver (anything around 12˚) you will also need a more-lofted fairway wood.

The other reason that fairway woods are hard to hit is because the lies you get at golf courses are now tighter and you need to find the perfect, sweeping contact.

A good way to think about the contact required is to concentrate on what the sole of the club is doing through impact.

Just like the bounce of your wedges, you want the sole of your fairway woods to brush the grass through impact.

Make a few practice swings before you hit the shot (don’t take a divot, just brush the grass) with this specifically in mind.

Then, as you address the ball, set it forward in your stance as you would with a driver and just try to make a rhythmical swing, brushing the grass through impact. There is so much good technology at work in modern-day fairway woods – you just have to know how to use it!

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Key tips

• Aim to brush the sole of the club on the grass through impact
• Move the ball forward in your stance to encourage a sweeping strike
• Don't try and help the ball up in the air by scooping or flicking
• Let the club do the work for you